January 31, 2008

The Terminator (and Other State Leaders) vs. HIV Budgets

AIDS activists in New York are praising the state’s Governor Eliot Spitzer for his recent budget proposal that includes what is being called a “major victory for poor New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS.”

According to a press release issued by New York-based advocacy group Housing Works, which works to fight HIV/AIDS and homelessness in the city, Spitzer’s budget will restore $573 a month in assistance to more than 1,000 low-income families, including poor families affected by HIV/AIDS, a population that had been specifically denied the benefits in previous years. The budget is expected to be approved on or around April 1, and the housing provision is expected to cost about $7 million per year in New York state funding, according to the press release.

“We’re glad that Governor Spitzer saw injustice clearly and moved to address it firmly,” Charles King, president and CEO of Housing Works, said in the release. “This is one instance where a governor can make a difference. Over a thousand low-income New York adults and kids struggling with AIDS, homelessness and disability will be grateful that Spitzer is now on their side.”

This budgetary victory for HIV-positive low-income New Yorkers comes at the same time that HIV-positive people across the country, in California, face what could be serious cuts to prevention, education and treatment funding. HIV activists are gearing up for an emergency community meeting next Wednesday, February 6, sponsored by the LA County HIV Drug & Alcohol Task Force (HIV DATF), to discuss the potential cuts to California’s HIV/AIDS budget. [For more information, visit myspace.com/hivdatf.] The meeting, which will be hosted by Kathy Watt, Los Angeles’ HIV commissioner, is a rallying cry against budget slashes that are expected to negatively impact the lives of the more than 150,000 Californians living with HIV.

“We’re expecting a $7 million cut in ADAP [AIDS Drug Assistance Program] and [further cuts in] … prevention money,” the event’s organizer, Susan Forrest of the HIV DATF, told POZ. The cuts are in response to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget, which aims to reduce spending on most state programs in order to address California’s $14 billion deficit.  Earlier this month, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation released a statement urging Governor Schwarzenegger to reverse the budget cuts: “Cutting crucial California AIDS services at the same time the Centers for Disease Control is preparing to release new nationwide data showing a stark increase in HIV cases in the U.S. figures…is a very poor budget and public health strategy,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in the statement. In addition to cuts in ADAP and prevention funding, the California activists expect cuts in funding for community-based care, early intervention and residential AIDS facilities, all totaling $11 million.

The differing situations in New York and California make one thing clear—there is currently not enough money allocated to address the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in America. A New York Times article in December reported that while U.S. funding for AIDS programs abroad have increased in recent years, federal spending on domestic prevention efforts decreased by 19 percent from 2002 to 2007, adjusting for inflation.

What’s more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to release updated estimates of the number of new annual HIV infections in the United States—estimates that are rumored to be as much as 50 percent higher than the figures that were previously reported. A bolstering of federal and state funding for AIDS programs is of critical importance to both people living with HIV and those who are not, as a lack of money for prevention education and treatment increases the risk that the epidemic will spread. As the epidemic continues to grow—especially in poor communities of color—state officials have the tough, but important task of allocating appropriate funding to HIV/AIDS services.

Robert Greenwald, director of the Treatment Access Expansion Project (TAEP), points out that individual states can work only with the funds that they are given: “There is no question that as the economy slows, states in particular are feeling a crunch,” he says. “[And] while it is important to focus on the different responses of the different [state] governments, I believe it is the role of the federal government to help states be able to meet the needs of its citizens [living with HIV] when there is a downturn in the economy.”

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Previous Comments:

Blessed N The Bronx, Bronx NY, 2008-02-02 01:42:04
Three cheers for Gov. Spitzer I'm Glad I voted for him! Before being elected I saw him campaigning in gay communities in NYC! He's backing up his words with action .... Good for him & us!

Sunnie, Los Angeles, 2008-02-01 15:52:08
Great Article! Thanks for helping get the word out on this very important issue for California!